I WILL TEAR DOWN THE WORLD TO UNLACE HER.

I am a scholar of the shadows. I am a man of intellect and low birth. My place is in the library of the Albany. My duty is to teach princes. My obsession is the woman who belongs to another man.

Ciara Adams is a bird in a gilded cage. Her father sold her to pay a gambling debt. Now she is the property of the Earl of Radcliff. He is a man of ice and arrogance. He wants her bound in silk and silence. He demands her corset be laced until she cannot breathe. He thinks he can own her soul.

He is wrong.

I see the fire behind her eyes. I feel the heat when our hands touch over forbidden letters. The Earl calls me a servant. He threatens to ruin me for even looking at her. He does not realize I have already crossed the line. I will not let him break her. I will be the one to undo her laces. I will be the one to teach her the meaning of true surrender.

The Midsummer Ball is her prison sentence. He will claim her before the entire Ton. I will not let that happen. I will risk everything to shatter her chains. I will burn my reputation to the ground to keep her.

I will ruin us both before I let him touch her again.